UNISDRStrategic Framework
2016-2021

UNISDR
Strategic Framework
2016-2021

Strategic Framework 2016-2021
Pages // 4

THE ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR DISASTER RISKREDUCTION: A THEORY OF CHANGE
Introduction
The UNISDR Strategic Framework is underpinned
by a theory of change in which the reductionof disaster risk is essential to sustainable
development, and where a risk-informed
development path is key to the successful
management of disaster risks.
Disasters are exacting a huge toll with hundredsof thousands of lives and US$1.5 trillion lost in
the last decade alone. Economic losses fromdisasters are now averaging US$250 billion to 300
billion each year1. This trend is set to continue as
exposure in hazard-prone countries grows more
rapidly than vulnerability is reduced. Economic
development, the rapid pace of urbanisationand population growth concentrate people andeconomic activity in hazard-prone areas. With
climate change, environmental degradation andrising inequality, successfully managing disasterrisk in these areas will be a determining factor ofprosperity and sustainability.
Disaster risk is part of the DNA of social andeconomic development, rooted in poverty andinequality, evolving over time. Consequently,
managing disaster risks cannot be separated
from the broader governance of social andeconomic development. Successful disaster risk
governance relies on accountable institutions,appropriately resourced local governments,
functional judicial systems, and low levels ofpoverty and social inequality.
The international humanitarian system is also
under increasing strain with unprecedented
humanitarian needs in many regions of theworld. It has become clear that current andexpected future levels of assistance required

1.
UNISDR. 2015. Global Assessment Report on Disaster
Risk Reduction Making Development Sustainable: the future ofdisaster risk management. Geneva, Switzerland: UNISDR.

cannot be sustained and that the risks ofhumanitarian crises and disasters have to be
reduced significantly. UNISDR recognises thatbehavioural change of society as a whole isrequired to substantially reduce disaster losses.
It therefore directly supports governments andacts as a convener and catalyst for action by awide range of stakeholders, including the United
Nations system and regional organisations,major groups, civil society and the private sector,
parliamentarians and key decision-makers, andthe science and technology community.
International agreements on disaster risk
reduction, sustainable development, financing
for development, and climate change mitigation
and adaptation present a unique opportunity forincreased coherence and global impact. For the
first time, this set of interconnected agreements
has the potential to catalyse international
development that is sensitive to trade-offs
between economic, social and environmental
priorities, recognises the critical role of genderequality and mainstreaming, and reflects anunderstanding of climate and disaster risk. Today,
the international community, including the public
and private sector, has a unique opportunity tochange the way that development is understood,
implemented and measured.

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The path ahead: UNISDR in 2016 – 2021
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction2015 – 2030 marks a crucial shift from managing
disasters to managing and reducing risk andestablishes resilience-building as a common
denominator of the 2030 Agenda. To paraphrase
the UN Secretary-General, the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development started in Sendai.
Countries have committed to give sharper focus
to their efforts to reduce disaster risk by setting
priorities for action and specific targets that arecodified in the Sendai Framework. Understanding
disasterrisk,
strengthening
disasterrisk
governance, investing in resilience, and enhancing
disaster preparedness for effective response andto build back better are the four priorities foraction for countries in pursuance of the Sendai
Framework’s outcome and goal. The progress thatcountries make in these areas will be measured
against the seven global targets:
substantially reducing: (a) the loss of lives,(b) numbers of affected people, (c) economic
loss, and (d) damage to critical infrastructure;andincreasing and improving: (e) national andlocal strategies with specific targets andindicators, (f) international cooperation,and (g) access to early warning and risk
assessment.
Furthermore, major changes in attitudes andbehaviours towards disaster risk reduction,
which began in the aftermath of the Indian
Ocean Tsunami of 2004, are now reflected andfurther elaborated in all the recent international
agreements (SAMOA Pathway, Sendai Frameworkfor
Disaster
Risk
Reduction
2015-2030,
Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing fordevelopment, the Transforming our World: 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris
Agreement on climate change and the New Urban
Agenda). In the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) in particular, disaster risk reduction andresilience are reflected in 25 targets and in 10 of
the 17 goals.

The United Nations system, through the UN Plan of
Action for Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience:
Towards a Risk-informed and Integrated Approachto Sustainable Development, is committed tostrengthening coherence in its approaches andefforts in disaster risk reduction. UNISDR supports
its UN partners as well as regional organisations,development banks and relevant multilateral
institutions in making all programming disasterrisk-informed. The Sendai Framework provides
UNISDR with a pivotal role in aligning national
implementation and monitoring, and regionaland global review of progress across relevantinternational frameworks. This is the first timethat the international community will be able toreview global progress in disaster risk reduction
in a systematic way, one that is linked to progressin sustainable development, and UNISDR is thecentral facilitator and clearing house for thisprocess.
The next five years are critical. The Sendai
Framework outlines a set of essential outputs by
2021. These determine the strategic direction for
UNISDR in the coming years. They include:•

Support to the intergovernmental workof countries, including on finalising theterminology for disaster risk reduction and theindicators for the global targets.

•

Support to countries in implementing the
Sendai Framework, including development of
national and local strategies and plans withconcrete targets and indicators, aligned withplans on sustainable development and climatechange.

•Development of baselines for the global
targets of the Sendai Framework, requiringglobal coverage of the development andimprovement of national disaster loss
databases with as much disaggregation as
feasible of data by sex, age and ability.

•

Analysis of disaster risks and good practice inthe context of sustainable development andclimate change through Global Assessment
Reports on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR),

Strategic Framework 2016-2021
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Global and Regional Platforms for Disaster
Risk Reduction, and partnerships andadvocacy in strategic areas.
•

Review of progress against the Sendai
Framework, including guidance for future
course corrections, reviews of the UN Planof Action on Disaster Risk Reduction for
Resilience and international development
assistance flows.

•

Major
stock-taking
exerciseof
implementation of the Sendai Framework,
including assessing the achievement ofTarget E on national and local disaster risk
reduction strategies.

UNISDR’s mandate and vision
UNISDR is the focal point in the United Nations
system, coordinating disaster risk reductionand ensuring synergies among the relevant
activities of United Nations agencies andregional organisations, and related activities
in socio-economic and humanitarian fields.
UNISDR’s role2 is to support the implementation,
follow-up and review of the Sendai Framework,
including by fostering coherence with otherinternational instruments, such as the 2030
Agenda and its SDGs as well as Paris Agreement
on climate change. As such, UNISDR champions
and supports the integration of disaster risk
management across different areas of work of
the United Nations and of its Members States aswell as among a broad range of key stakeholders,
including the private sector and civil society.
To carry out its mandate, UNISDR’s vision isarticulated in line with the Sendai Framework, as
the substantial reduction of disaster losses andrisk for a sustainable future. The vision builds on
UNISDR’s significant track record of expertise andaccomplishments under the Hyogo Framework

2. Mandate from the Sendai Framework, as endorsed by theGeneral Assembly, GA/RES/69/283

for Action, from 2005 to 2015. These include
the successful establishment and leadershipof regional and global coordinating and review
mechanisms for disaster risk reduction; ongoingsupport to countries, intergovernmental processes,
and key stakeholders, by providing relevant risk
information, decision-making support tools andpolicy guidance; catalysing multi-stakeholder
engagement in disaster risk reduction, including
the private sector, parliamentarians and civilsociety; fostering gender-sensitive disaster risk
reduction; and effective global advocacy.
The desired impact and long-term objectiveof UNISDR’s work is the prevention of new
and reduction of existing disaster risk andstrengthening resilience, corresponding with thegoal of the Sendai Framework.
A number of conditions will need to be createdand sustained in order to achieve this, including•

anengagedandactiveinternational
community – including governments and key
policy makers, the UN system and internationaland regional organisations, international andregional development banks, parliamentarians,the private sector, civil society, and the scienceand technology community – that understands
and is committed to disaster risk reduction asa strategic approach to achieve sustainable
development;•

the ability and practice of countries to aligntheir national priorities, strategies and plans– as well as the related monitoring and review
mechanisms – to relevant internationalframeworks, in particular for disaster risk
reduction, sustainable development andclimate change adaptation and mitigation;•a change in decision-making processes,
policies and practices of governments,
private sector and other key actors to makethem truly risk-informed, which implies
access to risk information and knowledge
that is context-specific, appropriate andaccurate;

Strategic Framework 2016-2021
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an all-of-society engagement and partnership,
guided by the principle that governments,
parliamentarians, civil society and community
groups, international organisations, theprivate sector, members of the scienceand technology community, and other key
stakeholders jointly engage in disaster risk
reduction and act as important contributors tounderstanding risk and as advocates for riskinformed development.

•a continued commitment to making disasterrisk reduction gender- and age- sensitive andinclusive of all stakeholders, including persons
with disabilities.

UNISDR commits to enabling and fostering these
conditions through three Strategic Objectives,
which guide its work from 2016 through to2021. At the heart of this is its mandate toreview progress against the Sendai Framework.
Monitoring and reporting progress in disasterrisk reduction creates a virtuous cycle ofknowledge and evidence generation andapplication for improved policy and practice,which forms the backbone and underlying
rationale of UNISDR’s engagement acrossits Strategic Objectives: supporting countries
in generating risk data and information, andregular monitoring and reporting on disaster
loss, risk and risk reduction practice, create
the basis for analysis and evidence. Through apositive feedback loop, this evidence informs
global and regional processes in disaster risk
reduction, such as the Global and Regional
Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPs andRPs), which in turn inform national practice. It
also is the basis for coherence with international
processes on sustainable development andclimate change, in particular the Sustainable
Development Goals and the Paris Agreement
on climate change. Importantly, the analysis
and evidence feeds directly back into improved
national implementation in the form of accessible
risk knowledge, tools and capacity building.

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SEND

AI

A

SENDA FRIF
Knowledge and

s

PA

RIS

Monitoring andreporting
SO2 SO3

AGREEMENTORK
EW E W O R KSD

GCREATING A VIRTUOUS
CYCLE OF KNOWLEDGE
AND ACTION ACROSSUNISDR STRATEGICOBJECTIVESAM

Risk data and information,
good practice, policy guidance,
tools and capacity building
SO2 SO3

M

R

evidence generation
and application
SO1 SO2 SO3Enabler 1

Intergovernmental
processes,
partnerships
SO1 SO2 SO3Strategic Framework 2016-2021
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VISION The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses for a sustainable future
MANDATE Focal point of the United Nations system for disaster risk reduction and the custodianof the Sendai Framework, supporting countries and societies in its implementation, monitoring andreview of progress

OVERARCHING OBJECTIVE The prevention of new and reduction of existing disaster

Strategic Objectives

risk and strengthening resilience through successful multi-hazard disaster risk management.

1

Strengthen global
monitoring, analysis
and coordination of
Sendai Framework
implementation

1.1

Results

Global Progress of
the Sendai Framework& related SDG targets
assessed2

Support to regionaland national
Sendai Framework
implementation

2.1

Regional & national
coordination mechanisms leveraged tomonitor & accelerate
Sendai Framework

2.2

3

Catalyse action
through
Member States andPartners

3.1

Fostered policy coherence by engaging
with member States& contributing to relevant intergovernmental processes

3.2

Global risk data, analysis and policy advice
generated

1.2

National disaster risk
reduction strategies& plans developedin line with Sendai
Framework prescribedguidance

Coordination & advice
provided to UN System
partners at global leveltowards effective & efficient Sendai Framework
implementation

1.3

2.3

All of society
engagement andaction promoted
trough strengthening
partnerships with key
stakeholders

Global coordination
and accountability
mechanisms
convened

Build capacity ofcounterparts, UNCTs
and partners for DRR
leadership

3.3

Enablers

3.4

Enabler 1:

Effective knowledge management, communicationand global advocacy

Enabler 2:Strengthened organizational performance

Partnerships leveraged for increased
financing for disasterrisk reduction andrisk-sensitive investment

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1 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE

STRENGTHEN GLOBAL MONITORING, ANALYSIS AND COORDINATION
OF SENDAI FRAMEWORK IMPLEMENTATION
Progress hinges on having an engaged andactive international disaster risk reduction
community, including governments and key
policy makers, the UN system and internationaland regional organisations, the private sector
and civil society, and science and technology
actors.
UNISDR uses its convening power
for regional and global coordination to bringthis community together on a regular basis toreview progress against the Sendai Framework,
examine challenges and opportunities inpractice and policy, and strengthen coherence
and cooperation with other internationalframeworks, in particular with the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris
Agreement on climate change.
UNISDR isestablishing the global monitoring system andleads the global review of progress in disasterrisk reduction against the global targets of the
Sendai Framework, and ensures alignment with
progress reviews on relevant parts of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development, mostnotably the SDGs.
The main results expected under this strategic
objective are that global coordination andaccountability mechanisms are successfully
delivered and leveraged, on-going intergovernmental support is provided, and risk
knowledge and data to measure progress are
systematically collected and analysed.

2 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVESUPPORT TO REGIONAL AND NATIONAL SENDAI FRAMEWORKIMPLEMENTATION
Accurate, appropriate and applicable risk
knowledge, including analysis of regional andglobal risk patterns and trends, and progressin disaster risk reduction are prerequisites for
effective disaster risk management. UNISDR
supports countries in assessing what they are
currently losing, what they could lose in the
future, what drives risk, which disaster risk
management options have proven effective andwhich innovations hold potential for building
resilience.
UNISDR will continue to make available
relevant risk knowledge and provide policy
guidance in support of countries’ planning andimplementation. Specifically, UNISDR will support
countries in reviewing data requirements for thedevelopment of national targets, indicators andbaselines, and provide leadership and coordinationin the United Nations system (through UN
Country Teams and other regional coordination

mechanisms) to support the development of
national and local strategies. UNISDR will also
coordinate and strengthen overall approaches tocapacity building.
The main results expected under this strategic
objective are that relevant national disasterloss and appropriate disaggregated risk data
are generated, and disaster risk knowledge andpolicy guidance are made available for riskinformed decision-making; regional coordination
and accountability mechanisms are successfully
delivered and leveraged; and that United Nations
Country Teams and regional organisations
actively support countries through risk-sensitive
UnitedNations
Development
Assistance
Frameworks (UNDAFs)3 and the United Nations
Plan of Action.

3. UNDAFs may be replace with UN Sustainable Development
Frameworks in the coming years.

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3 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE

CATALYSE ACTION THROUGH MEMBER STATES AND PARTNERS
The Sendai Framework calls for all-of-society
engagement and partnership as one of its guiding
principles. This means that governments, civilsociety, international and regional organisations,the private sector and other key stakeholders
must jointly engage in disaster risk reduction.
UNISDR is recognised for its strong partnershipexperience and network, its promotion of genderequality, parity and women’s empowerment indisaster risk reduction. It will build on this, toengage and strengthen commitments by membersof the science and technology community,
civil society and community leaders, including
representatives of minority groups, the private
sector, parliamentarians and local authorities as
catalysts for action and accountability. Partners
contribute to understanding and managing risk
and advocate for risk-informed and accountabledevelopment in important ways.

The main results expected for this strategic
objective are coherence of international andregional advocacy for disaster risk reduction,
sustainable development and climate change
action; strong partnerships for the generation
and application of risk knowledge and evidence;
the on-going provision of inter-governmental
support; and active and accountable contribution
to disaster risk reduction from all stakeholders,
including the private sector, civil society andcommunity groups, science and technology
partners, parliamentarians and key decisionmakers.
In addition, two Enablers support UNISDR’s
work across the three Strategic Objectives, thegeographical regions and at all levels:

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1 ENABLER

EFFECTIVE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, COMMUNICATIONAND GLOBAL ADVOCACY
Effective knowledge brokering lies at the heart ofsuccessful communication and advocacy for disasterrisk reduction. UNISDR supports countries and awide range of stakeholders by meeting both thedemand and supply side of risk knowledge. Highimpact communication and advocacy for disasterrisk reduction will be underpinned by investmentsin effective knowledge management within theorganisation, for the UN system and with countries,
key stakeholders and networks. Consequently,
UNISDR communicates clearly on disaster risk
trends, disaster losses and impacts, highlighting
gaps in implementation and show-casing bestpractice by governments and stakeholders in
reducing disaster risk and disaster losses.

The main results expected for this enabling pillarof work are that UNISDR achieves major impact
in knowledge generation and uptake, based ondata collection and risk analysis, disaggregated bygender, age and disability, and is recognised andrespected for its role as knowledge leader, broker
and convener in disaster risk reduction. In addition,effective communication and global advocacy
campaigns ensure stakeholder engagement andconsolidate UNISDR’s track-record of excellenceacross the three Strategic Objectives.

2 ENABLER

STRENGTHENED ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Impact of UNSIDR’s work will be increased
through more effective, efficient and quality
organisational performance and programmedelivery. A sustainable and predictable resourcebase will have to go hand in hand with enhanced
effectiveness, efficiency and coherence of
operational performance. UNISDR will also
strengthen its results-based management withconcurrent planning, monitoring and evaluation;enhance its human resource management andstaff development in line with its commitment
to the UN system wide policy on gender equality
and women empowerment and significantly
improve its resource mobilisation.

The main results expected for this enabling pillarof work are an appropriate, sustainable andpredictable financial resource base, and enhanced
operational performance based on appropriate
gender-sensitive structure and staffing. Bothareas will support enhanced performance acrossthe three Strategic Objectives.

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For additional information, please contact:
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)
9-11 Rue de Varembé, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland, Tel: +41 22 917 89 08
Note: The designations employed and the presentation of maps in this report do not imply
the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations
concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities or concerning
the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

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